Chapter 16 #2
In his closing, Quick would discount this.
Just because Jenna had never seen it didn’t mean it wasn’t Tom’s or Katy’s knife.
But I’d scored some points he couldn’t volley.
I felt hope rising in my chest. Even Katy sensed a shift.
She sat a little straighter in her seat.
I should have stopped there. I let my confidence get the best of me.
About two minutes later, it would cost me.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s get back to your arrival at the house and your normal routine. You said you had the garage door code. But never a spare key?”
“No. He never gave me a key.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked. But I had already jumped the tracks. A small voice in my head screamed as if I were at the controls in a cockpit: pull up, pull up, pull up!
“I’m sure. I just had the garage door code.”
Stop. Don’t. Do not.
“How were you supposed to get in if the garage door wasn’t working? Say, if the power went out?”
“If the power were out, I wouldn’t have been able to work that day. I can’t clean in the dark or with no electricity. Besides, Mr. Loomis installed one of those whole house generators. His power was never out. I only went in through the garage.”
Crash. It wasn’t earth-shattering. Not even a major mistake. I should have stopped with the knife.
“So you entered the house at 5:52 a.m. At 5:57 a.m. Mr. Kinney, the neighbor, placed a call to 911. So just under five minutes. That’s the amount of time you were in the Loomis house?”
“That sounds about right. Yes.”
“You didn’t immediately walk back to the bedroom upon entering the house, did you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well,” I said. “You said you walked in with your own supplies. A tote. Were you carrying the tote when you walked back into the bedroom?”
“What? No, I put it down.”
“Where?”
“In the kitchen.”
“You were wearing a coat in the surveillance video. Did you take it off?”
“Yes,” she said.
“So you walked in. Put your tote down in the kitchen. Took your coat off. You said that you only stood on the threshold of that primary bedroom for about three seconds before running out just before 5:57 p.m. So five minutes. I’m trying to understand what you were doing for five whole minutes prior to seeing Katy Loomis in the bedroom. ”
“I think you kind of answered it,” she said. “I wasn’t keeping a timer. But I came in. I set down my things. I took my coat off and hung it up in the hall closet.”
“That took five minutes?” I asked.
“Objection,” Quick said. “Counsel is assuming facts not in evidence. She’s declared five minutes as if it’s a proven fact.”
“Well, we have a five-minute gap from the time Ms. Rodney entered the home until the time the 911 call was placed. I’m trying to understand what was happening in that time frame.”
“Overruled, Mr. Quick,” the judge said.
“Okay.” I turned back to Jenna. “So it’s your testimony that setting down your tote and taking off your coat took close to five minutes?”
“No. That can’t be right. That maybe took a minute.”
“So is it possible you did more than just set your tote down and hang up your coat?”
“I must have,” she said. “But I don’t remember. I might have.”
“You took your supplies out of your tote, didn’t you?” I asked.
“What?”
I showed her another photo from the Loomis house, taken that morning. Jenna’s tote was on the kitchen table but the lid was open. A few bottles of various cleaning supplies were on the counter. The vacuum cleaner was propped against the wall.
“Oh, right,” she said. “Yes. I took my coat off. Brought the vacuum out of the same closet where the coats are kept. Then I took my supplies out.”
“So you exaggerated some of the things you told the police. You didn’t just walk right in and hear moaning from the bedroom, did you?”
“I guess not,” she said. “But as I said before. Things were kind of a blur. I panicked. It was all so shocking.”
There was a natural question to ask, but I left it.
She had misremembered details about everything she did that morning when she walked in.
She had changed a few small, key details about what she claimed to have seen in the bedroom.
They were minor things, but I could use them in closing arguments later. Maybe.
“You said you saw Mrs. Loomis in the bedroom, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You said it was obvious Mr. Loomis was already dead when you saw him, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You claim you saw Mrs. Loomis holding a knife.”
“Yes.”
“You never saw Mrs. Loomis using the knife, did you?”
“No.”
“You have no idea what happened in that house before you arrived, do you?”
“No.”
“All you know is what you think you remember from that morning?”
“I don’t think it,” she said. “I remember it. Every detail.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I have no further questions at this time.”
“Mr. Quick?” Judge Castor said. “Any redirect?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“All right then. We’ll break for lunch. Is your next witness prepared to take the stand immediately after, Mr. Quick?”
“She is,” Quick said. “Detective DePaul is ready and willing.”